by James Graham. Directed by Jess Staufenberg.
Wednesday 3 – Saturday 6 June and
Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 June at 7.30pm.
Matinées on Saturdays 6 and 13 June at 3pm.
At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington
Don’t answer ‘why’, and a story can run forever.
Fleet Street, 1969. Brash Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch acquires The Sun – a neglected, Labour-supporting newspaper on its last legs – enlisting disgruntled sub-editor Larry Lamb to resurrect the publication in record time. Recruiting a motley squad of Fleet Street’s most undervalued journalists, they set out to break the rules, upend the system, and prove they can outsell the establishment that has long looked down on them. Murdoch has a vision for his new paper: a kind of tabloid journalism that will transform British media forever.
Nominated for Best Play at the Olivier and Tony Awards, James Graham’s electrifying historical drama is an insightful incision into the heart of the British press, and those who made it what it is today.
Buy Tickets
Wednesday 3 June at 7.30pm
Thursday 4 June at 7.30pm
Friday 5 June at 7.30pm
Saturday 6 June at 3pm
Saturday 6 June at 7.30pm
Tuesday 9 June at 7.30pm
Wednesday 10 June at 7.30pm
Thursday 11 June at 7.30pm
Friday 12 June at 7.30pm
Saturday 13 June at 3pm
Saturday 13 June at 7.30pm
Age guidance: 14+. Content Advice
Cast
Rupert Murdoch : Zane Fleming
Larry Lamb: Christopher Lloyd James
Hugh Cudlipp/Chapel father: Steve Grist
Stephanie Rahn: Bella Straughn
Sir Alick/TV host: Richard Kirby
Brian McConnell: Johnnie Buckingham
Bernard Shrimsley/Christopher Timothy: Harry Apps
Ray Mills/Lee Howard: Charles Patterson
Beverley: Michael Violette
Frank Nicklin: Bob Hough
Diana/Chrissie/Muriel Mckay: Alice Croucher
Joyce Hopkirk/Anna Murdoch: Lucy Moss
Production Team
Director : Jess Staufenberg
Set Design : Rae Macaskill and Jennie Foot
Costume Design : Jean Carr, Polly Dennish-Ross and Sheila Burbidge
Lighting Design : Samuel Littley
Sound Design : Ruth Sullivan
Stage Manager : Richard Davies
Assistant Directors : Jennie Foot, James Christiansen
Sound Operator : Laurence Tuerk
 Zane Fleming is delighted to be making his Tower Theatre debut, after 27 years working across theatre, television, and film in New Zealand as an Actor, Director and Producer. He relocated to London in late 2024 and has been happily treading the boards ever since. Most recently, he appeared as Oz Fudge and various others in Come From Away with Wimbledon Light Opera Society in 2025. Previous stage credits include Greg in Reasons to be Pretty, Detective Sergeant Trotter in The Mousetrap, and The Actor in The Woman in Black, a role he has played 3 times to date. He also had the pleasure of donning the famous waxed moustache in an award winning performance of the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in Black Coffee. Zane is thrilled to be joining the Tower Theatre and working with such an talented cast and crew |
 Christopher Lloyd James joined the Tower in early in 2024. He’s been very fortunate to appear in a number of productions including Measure for Measure, Shakespeare in Love, Staying Alive and Blood Wedding. Since returning to acting a few years ago he has also appeared in a number of short films, a feature and music videos. He is very pleased to be a part of Ink and to help tell its story of the media in a time of huge social and cultural change. |
 This is Steven Grist‘s second performance with the Tower after his role as Craig in The Dark Room. Steve’s other acting credits include Bill in One for Sorrow, various roles in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and as director and actor in Summer Shorts, all with South London Theatre, and John in Speaking in Tongues with KDC (Hen and Chickens). Prior to these, Steve has acted with the Quince Players, Sunninghill; Wokingham Theatre, and Santiago Stage, Chile. Roles with those companies included Henry Purkiss in Funny Money, Lord Arthur in Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, and Hal in Loot. Directorial credits include Villa with SLT and Oleanna with Santiago Stage. |
 This is Bella Straughn‘s first show with the Tower after joining earlier this year. She is very excited to be part of the Company. She studied at Drama Studio London and has received acting jobs predominantly on screen but is very happy to be returning to her love of theatre. Bella performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 with the show Delicieux and is set to return next year with her own play that she has co-written and will also be starring in. Bella is also a film director and currently has a short film doing the festival rounds and due to premier this summer with the next project in pre-production and set to shoot in August. |
 Richard Kirby started performing in the 1970s with Chicken Shed and then moved on to St Monica’s Players and the Acorn Theatre Company in Palmers Green. He trained at the City Lit from 2002- 2004 and joined the Tower in 2006 since when he’s played roles including the March Hare and Mock Turtle in Curiouser and Curiouser, Seldom Bucket in Maskerade, the Gravedigger and Player King in Hamlet, Lane in The Importance of Being Earnest, Charlie in Hangmen last year and Neil in Telling It the year before. He played Leonato and Don John in a touring production of Much Ado About Nothing. Richard has also been fight director for several Tower productions. |
 Bob Hough graduated from Exeter University´s English and Drama course some time ago. His fortune has declined since his first role with the Tower Theatre as God in Peter Barker´s production of Kleinzeit. Subsequently he has gone downhill: tortured half to death in Death and the Maiden; abandoned in Endgame; kicked and crushed to death respectively in Entertaining Mr Sloane and The Crucible; a heart attack in Baba Shakespeare; in The Doctor’s Dilemma he was dragged from death’s door only by a miracle serum. He has survived in other plays even escaping the noose-happy hangman in Hangmen. In the Tower’s recent Brighton Rock his faith in the psychopathic Pinkie was rewarded by being kicked half to death before being flung down stairs to polish him off. He is very pleased to be cast as the sports editor in Ink and hopes that his almost total lack of interest in, and zero knowledge, of spectator sports won’t infect the character. Elsewhere, he was a member of Personas Libro (Project Fahrenheit 451); details on request. |
 Lucy Moss has been a member of the Tower since 2018. She’s an actor, writer and costume stylist and has been lucky enough to play a variety of roles from Marina in The Mirror Crack’d to Lulie in Five Lesbians Eating A Quiche, which opened the Tower’s 2026 Spring Season. |
 Jess Staufenberg has assistant directed or produced on A Dolls House, Crime and Punishment and Moby Dick at the Tower Theatre. She did LAMDA grade 7 acting and was in lots of plays when she was a kid and then failed to give theatre any love until wanting it back in her life post-pandemic. Her grandparents met in Nottingham Repertory Theatre as a set designer and actress, and she hopes they are mega proud of her. |